jiburi

Richard Anderson came to Seattle in June and while I do not know the details of the meetings, meeting involved AS executive(s?), and future expansion of routes from SEA. Of those, Manila, Hong Kong, and London were named.

Jiburi

VladQ

I also heard of that visit while speaking to a DL check in agent in SeaTac on June 19. Unfortunately, she did not know the details...

It's great news for SEA. I hope they will consider a nonstop to SIN too (or at least offer it from LAX).

stephem

There was already a seed of this in development with the former NW. When I lived in Singapore, we had a corporate rep w/ NW who was incredibly well connected (would op-up our entire families for annual leave, etc) and she hinted to us that NW planned to use its 787s to reduce dependence on the Narita hub. She suggested that it was a longterm plan to use newer planes and the west coast to strike deep into Asia with nonstops. She even said that SIN was on the list of nonstops they were considering. Of course strategy has changed with DL being the new owner, but I suspect the same underlying economics that had DL looking to lessen reliance on Narita are still in play now.

Narita as a scissor hub is both obsolete due to new planes and also more costly than direct flights from a northerly US gateway (is SEA the new MSP?).

Pi7473000

As delta is not a premium carrier to Asia hey will have a tough time on this route. The BusinessElite cabin ant compete with Cathy to Hong Kong and there is not option for First class on this airline. Even United, an airline with issues after its merger, has first class.

jrkmsp

Wonder if this is a sign of the new alignment:

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/sta...93967340703744

"Alaska Airlines says it'll terminate interline agreement with ANA from 01AUG13 and ASIANA from 01OCT13."

mtkeller

If DL puts an A330 on SEA-HKG, they will have the same J seat as CX has. Obviously there's a differential in soft product, but the lack of F is unlikely to be a huge deal for the corporate customers they will want to attract. In case you haven't noticed, carriers are cutting F seats left and right.

Dalat767

If SIN comes to fruition then it's great news for SEA. DL needs to have better arrival and departure times to/from SIN.

aviatorzz

Don't get me wrong, I love SEA. But with DL's additions to SEA's market and the number of other carriers that use the South terminal, where exactly is DL planning on parking all of these flights?

andymo99

DLs lie flats, esp on the 744, crush the J hard product on their 744s. (14 seats on upper deck vs 21 for CX!) Not sure how CX's 777 compares.




DL already is sending some domestic flights to the B terminal. Which is AWESOME when you aren't connecting. You don't have to take the train out to South, and you can use the superior Boardroom as opposed to SkyClub.

benzemalyonnais

I guess research shows theres good demand for this, since there's basically no ST connections at HKG.

sky303

I think this was a long time coming. My question is as was presented up-thread, how does DL plan to offer seamless connections at SEA, with as little space as they have. I don't think having to hoof it from B to South Satellite is such a great plan. I guess greater cooperation with AS could help this.

My other question is what does this mean for LAX? DL has been adding stuff in domestically like crazy and it all seems to spell more Asia stuff from LAX, but now there's all this Asia stuff going to SEA, or will more domestic expansion be made in SEA (I realize same has been announced, but nothing compared to LAX)? It seems like LAX is acting like a domestic hub and SEA, an international one.
tl;dr: What's going to happen regarding LAX and Asia and SEA and domestic expansion?

dtwtransport

Is SEA the new MSP? -- wondering the same on my end. Also, I wonder about impacts to DTW as the Asian hub if non-stop expansion occurs at SEA.

tentseller

As to SEA vs LAX, I would take SEA as my Asian port of entry and connection anyday.

alanro

I flew SEA-HKG non-stop on UA three times about twenty five years ago. Even on a 747-400, on two of those flights we had to stop to refuel in Taipei on the westbound flight due to strong headwinds (both flights were during the winter).

formeraa

I, too, noticed over the 4th of July weekend that DL was using three gates on the B Concourse (can anyone say "Back To The Future"?). I predict that DL will eventually take over the three additional gates that B6 and VX currently use on the B concourse and open a mini-SC in the old PC there. VX and B6 will move to A1-A3, where US currently is, when US moves to the D concourse to combine with AA.

How's that for a great rumor?